Okay, sorry this took so long, but I've been slightly bummed out of this story e...

Simone: Hi there, thanks for the review. I'm glad to know you have the idea of what might happen, but since this is my fic, and not yours, you couldn't possibly predict anything. True, some of what you said will happen, and if you're as smart as I think you are, you may even have your own version of the events that will follow.

Anyway, I thought long and hard of what you wrote to me, and all I can say is thanks. Here's what I'm gonna do: I'm gonna continue this, adding a few surprises on the way, if you must know Sendoh's not irritated by her. So this isn't give and take (I know what you're gonna say too, a big exagerrated exclamation of 'ooh...big surprise!') between the two of them. Anyway, here's what I'm proposing. I'm going to continue the story the way I wrote it, and flames and criticisms are most welcome, especially from you (and I mean this truly, I really do). I have another story on the works, Auction, which I think fits your needs. Try and read it and I hope you like it.

moodygal: Thanks :) you made me feel better

Amaya21inluvRukawa: Er, I'll check if Rukawa-kun has a girlfriend. He does seem to have a lot of girlfriends, doesn't he? In this site alone, he has dozens. hehe...

Hala: Sorry it took so long, I was feeling kinda down by Simone's review. But that's okay I feel better now.

Photograph

Chapter Five

Mira walked back and forth, pacing, twisting her fingers together. She was increasingly getting bad tempered.

Divo the dog followed her movements, his large head going left to right and then back again. He barked occasionally, making Mira turn at his direction and give him a smile.

They were at the park. She had missed work today, telling her boss that she had some school stuff to do, which was true.

The trouble was, the school stuff she needed to do included meeting Sendoh Akira. She had walked Divo and they had stopped at the public park and she had been waiting for the past fifteen minutes.

She sat at one of the picnic tables, staring at the basketball court. There was someone playing there, though he didn't seem to be attentive of his surroundings. Neither was the girl that was sitting next to his bag, playing with a guitar.

Watching them made Mira miss her camera even more. If she had it, she would have taken more than a dozen pictures by now, and not only of them, but of all the inanimate objects that were in the park. In her eyes, they were all subjects, screaming to her to take their picture.

Upon closer inspection in the court, she saw that it was Rukawa Kaede, of Shohoku, shooting the ball. She couldn't point out who the girl was, or what she was doing there, but she didn't have time to do so anyway, as someone was calling out her name behind her.

"Mira!"

She wheeled around, and glared at Sendoh's running figure. When he got closer though, Divo seemed to think of him as a threat and positioned himself in front of Mira and started to growl loudly.

"Whoa, tiger," he said, stopping abruptly and eyeing Divo apprehensively. He looked weakly at Mira, "Erm," he said, "do you mind?" He pointed at Divo.

"You're late," said Mira icily, not making any move of restraining Divo at all.

"Well yes, I'm aware of that," he said, not looking at her and instead staring at Divo's exposed teeth, "practice ended late you see, and would you please stop him? He looks big enough to eat me."

Mira looked down at Divo and smiled. "Yes he is big, isn't he?" she asked.

"Big enough to eat me," repeated Sendoh.

Mira went to Divo's level and started patting his head. "Divo?" she asked, "he wouldn't hurt a fly, would you Divo, no you won't, right boy?" She smiled at Divo, who instantly forgot that Sendoh was a threat and instead started cuddling at Mira.

She grinned at him and then stood up again, looking at Sendoh, who had a weird expression in his face. "What?" she asked.

"Well it's just amazing," he said.

"What's amazing?" she muttered.

"Well, one second, you look like you can hit me with about a thousand flying icicles in one go with the way you were looking at me, and the next you can make any man's face melt with the way you're looking at your dog."

Mira knew that this was a compliment, by the way he said it and by the way that he was smiling at her, a half sweet, half flirtatious smile. She didn't buy it.

"I am not here to flirt with you, Sendoh," she said monotonously. "We have a project, you just happen to be my partner. Once this is over, you're out of my life, for good. Got it?"

Sendoh just shrugged, looking at Divo. Divo was eyeing him sternly, but did not growl anymore. Apparently, it was enough for him to trust Sendoh since his master obviously acknowledges his presence.

"Nice dog," said Sendoh, with another brave attempt at conversation.

Divo was practically the only living object that can make Mira swoon. She looked down at Divo, and couldn't help but smile at the look he was giving her. "He was a stray," she said, "his previous owners abandoned him near a garbage dump."

"Lucky that he found you then," said Sendoh, smiling at her.

"Actually, I found him," said Mira, patting Divo's head. "His name's Divo, by the way."

"Yes, you've mentioned it."

"I know," she said, and then saw to her surprise Divo bounding up to Sendoh's outstretched hand. Sendoh grinned and started petting him. He was so large that he easily came up to Sendoh's waist, and let's remember, Sendoh's tall.

"He likes you," said Mira, not voicing out her surprise. "Strange."

Sendoh's lips formed a frown. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

Mira then realized that their conversation had nothing to do with the topic that they were supposed to be talking about. "We're here to talk about our project," she began. "You told me that you had an idea, now spill."

"What?" asked Sendoh, then, "Oh, right the project." He placed his bag on the picnic table and opened it. He took out the silver digital camera and handed it to Mira. "Here," he said, "this will come useful."

Mira really didn't want to take the camera. But she also wanted to use photography for a medium, in addition to really missing it. With a glum look she took the camera and started fiddling with the buttons. It looked more expensive than hers, and it looked brand new. "Your cousin let you borrow this?" she asked.

Sendoh nodded. "He just bought it cause he wanted to," he said, "but he doesn't really use it much."

Mira frowned deeply. Not using a camera this good should be a crime, she thought. "So basically," she said, looking up at Sendoh, "he just bought it for the heck of it."

"That's right."

She cursed inwardly. Whoever his cousin is, he should be hanged or murdered. "A camera is something you don't buy for display purposes," she said out loud but to no one in particular, "it should be used."

"Well, yeah," agreed Sendoh, "why do you think he let me have it?"

Mira looked at Sendoh through the display screen. Its screen was bigger than hers and with more pixels. The sticker said that it was 8.2 megapixels. Hers was just 7.0. "I'm starting to hate your cousin," she said, snapping a picture of Sendoh grinning.

"He's really a nice guy," said Sendoh reasonably.

"That's because he's your cousin," she retorted. "But anyway, speaking of your cousin, tell him that I won't cause a single scratch to this beautiful piece of technology that he, unfortunately and disgustedly, takes for granted."

Sendoh smiled weakly. "I think I should leave out the disgustedly part."

Mira didn't smile back at him.

"So, anyway," said Sendoh, clearly sounding like he wanted to steer clear of the subject for a very long time. "About our topic: moments."

Mira nodded. She had been thinking about that topic. It sounded so…broad. Moments, she thought, moments of what? Happiness? She didn't have much of those. Sorrow? Ah, she had plenty of those. Distress? Not a lot. Moments of wanting to be swallowed by the earth? Now that she had tons. What? What? What?

"Well I was thinking," began Sendoh, "that maybe we can do moments of … basketball?"

Mira stared at him. He had the questioning hopeful look in his eye. "Basketball?" she asked.

Sendoh nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, basketball," he said, "basketball has lots of moments that can be captured on paper. The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, the anger of being fouled out, the frustrations with the coach and referees, the cheering fans, the cheerleaders, the –"

He stopped when Mira held out his hand in front of his face, inches from his mouth. Her eyebrows were raised, and her mouth was twitching with an amused smile that she was trying not to show.

"Sensei said that we both have to contribute," continued Sendoh, putting down her hand, "and well, I'm not good at taking pictures, you are, and I don't know how you do at basketball –"

"I suck."

"Well, I don't," he said, but not gloatingly, "so I can handle that. You can take a whole new set of pictures, taken just for this project. And we can go to the other schools, to Shohoku, Kainan, Shoyo.

"If you don't know how to go there, I'll pick you up. We can spend the entire day together, one school per day, every weekend."

Mira raised an eyebrow at him, then looked at their hands. Sendoh was still holding hers. "That sounds like three dates," she said pointedly, shaking her hand off.

Sendoh cocked his head, and smiled at her. Mira felt her lip twitch. "It's not a date," he mumbled, "technically it's not."

"Technically," she said coolly.

"Why?" asked Sendoh slyly. "Would you want it to be?"

Mira's eyes widened and then, "No!" she shouted. The feel of Sendoh's hand was still in her own.

Sendoh backed away, holding both hands up. "It's for school," he insisted, "we just happen to be walking the same path together at the same time."

"You're one of those romantic types aren't you?" she asked, fighting very hard to not show that she was highly amused at all this.

"I am not naïve, if that's what you're thinking," he said, frowning slightly. Mira, against her wishes, thought that he looked equally as good when he smiles as when he frowns.

She then thought of something else. "Won't the other teams mind?" she asked. "I mean, we're from another school, with a camera taking pictures, and you're kind of easy to notice. Won't they think that I'm spying or something?"

Sendoh's eyes brightened. "So does that mean my idea's sold?"

Mira nodded slowly. She had to admit, it was a very good idea, and there's plenty to capture. She smiled at the camera in her hand, and handed it back to Sendoh. "You keep it," she said.

Sendoh pushed it back to her. "Nope," he said, "you keep it. You're the one who's gonna use it."

"Fine," she said, hanging it in her neck. "We'll start with Ryonan, ne?"

Sendoh nodded enthusiastically. "Going home?" he asked.

Mira nodded silently, taking Divo's leash and attaching it to his collar.

"Can I walk you home?" asked Sendoh.

Mira glared at him icily. "I know my way home," she said, and without a goodbye turned her back at him and started walking.